Jnanagarbha's Commentary on the Distinction Between the Two Truthsby Eckel, M. D.

David Eckel has translated Jnanagarbha's text in its entirety and provided an introduction that situates the text clearly in its historical and philosophical context. Extensive notes, a transliterated version of the Tibetan translation, and a reproduction of the original Tibetan block prints make this volume useful to scholars as well as to the interested general reader.

"The great Indian master Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School opens the door of philosophy and practice to meditators at all levels. With brevity and clarity, it covers all the main topics one needs to know from developing compassion, through numerous methods of meditation, to the ultimate realization of full awakening. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpche has an unique ability to bring forth the central issues of a text and make them available to a contemporary audience. This text will certainly bring great benefit to all those who encounter it."--The Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinle Dorje

"It ties together for the first time the two primary schools of Indian Mahayana tradition. Nagao's insights have been valued by Japanese scholars all along and only recently have Western scholars appreciated them. This offers a complete picture of his novel deliberations, showing a first-rate thinker at work."
--------Kenneth Inada, State University of New York

What do the Madhyamikas really mean? After due scrutiny of their primary sources as well as those of their rivals, coupled with a careful consideration of new interpretations by modern Madhyamikologists, the present author essays in this work the task of demonstrating with due documentation that it is difficult to resist the conclusion that, far from being an Absolutism or Absolutistic Monism as commonly held in responsible circles today, Madhyamika philosophy is, as held by the classics, Absolute Nihilism/Illusionism, indeed so Absolute a Nihilism/Illusionism that it leaves absolutely no room for religion and mysticism to which the Madhyamikas do in their aphilosophical mood feel committed, a fact brought into focus by the present writer for the first time.

Gendun Chopel is considered the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century. His life spanned the two defining moments in modern Tibetan history: the entry into Lhasa by British troops in 1904 and by Chinese troops in 1951. Recognized as an incarnate lama while he was a child, Gendun Chopel excelled in the traditional monastic curriculum and went on to become expert in fields as diverse as philosophy, history, linguistics, geography, and tantric Buddhism. Near the end of his life, before he was persecuted and imprisoned by the government of the young Dalai Lama, he would dictate the Adornment for Nagarjuna's Thought, a work on Madhyamaka, or "Middle Way", philosophy. It sparked controversy immediately upon its publication and continues to do so today.

THE MOON OF WISDOM: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo Dorjeby Chandrakirti and Eighth Karmapa Mikyo Dorje, trans. by Ari Goldfield, Jules Levinson, Jim Scott and Birgit Scott under guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

This important work, selected by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso as the text for his worldwide teaching tour, presents the 7th-century philosopher Chandrakirti's explanation of Nagarjuna's text The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, which summarizes the vast teachings of the Buddha and uses logic to prove the validity of his words.
The 8th Karmapa, a renowned meditation master and esteemed scholar, elaborates Chandrakirti's verses in a commentary--from The Chariot of the Dakpo Kayu Siddhas-- that contains the key to gaining the realization achieved by all the enlightened masters. The Moon of Wisdom's extraordinary combination of teachings from Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti and one of the most respected Karmapas forms a uniquely authoritative and comprehensive explanation of the Buddha's ultimate teachings, how to gain confidence in them, and how to put them into practice in one's own life.

In this innovative study of the philosopher Nagarjuna, Nancy McCagney demonstrates that the concept of space ("akasa") in early Indian Mahayana Buddhism is the root metaphor for Nagarjuna's understanding of "sunyata", or openness. Nagarjuna's use of the term "sunyata" was new, and contrasted with the word's use in Pali Buddhist literature. by using the word to mean "openness," Nagarjuna was able to elucidate, through a deeper analysis of impermanence, a consistent philosophical foundation for the truth and efficacy of Gautama's Middle Way. McCagney's book will be important for those studying Indian philosophy, Buddhism, and the philosophy of religion.

In this breakthrough translation, Nagarjuna, the early Buddhist philosopher, attempts to show that reality cannot be reduced to conceptual structures because thought and conceptualizaton belong to the field of mental presentation and are therefore fantasy. Reality, on the contrary, is what is experienced, and for that very reason, cannot be thought. A work of enormous impact on the history of Buddhist thought in East Asia, Nagarjuna demonstrates the absurdity of concepts such as substance, causality, and the idea of movement. Much like the Western philosopher Kant, he shows the limits of human understanding, and in doing so, creates room for religious experience.